Monday, 31 December 2012

Un Flic (Dirty Money) [1972]

Un Flic,
Jean-Pierre Melville’s final film, wasn’t just an excellent swansong for the
French auteur, it was also the perfect follow-up to his previous film, Le Cercle Rouge. Like the latter movie,
this too was a stylish and existential thriller centered on a heist; but, while
Alain Delon played the role of a laconic criminal in the earlier film, he
swapped places to the more agreeable side of law here – yet in either case it
didn’t end on a happy note for his character. The film begins with a bank
robbery on a particularly rainy day, staged by 4 men led by Simon (Richard
Crenna), a nightclub owner. Ironically, Commissioner Coleman (Delon) happens to
be a friend of Simon and a regular visitor to his nightclub; he’s even having
an affair on the sly with Simon’s platinum blonde fiancée (Catherine Deneuve).
Coleman has utmost derision towards criminals and bends the law whenever
necessary to get his job done; he leads his life and does his work in the most
cold, jaded and existentially detached manner imaginable. The measured pace
with which the plot moves forward, alternately focusing on the two opposing
sides, allowed terrific development of the various characters, as well as, superb
build-up of the film’s mood and palpably melancholic tone. The atmospheric, washed
out visuals brilliantly evoked the perpetual sense of doom and fatalism that
the film has been gift wrapped with, leading to the underplayed but subtly
affecting climax. The performances, in sync with Melville’s style, were completely
restrained. An audacious drug robbery scene, carried out by Simon on a moving
train, remains one of the hallmarks for the film.

Wicked Woman in February Sight & Sound
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Before I forget... please pick up the February edition of Sight & Sound on stands now where you can read my essay on Russell Rouse's "Wicked Woman." Here's a...